Draft mechanism



" R. F. DARBY.

DRAFT MECHANISM.

APPLIQATION FILED JUNE 19. 1919.

m a m m M a f a 2% ,m, 0 e 1 A? c R. F. DARBY. DRAFT MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 19, 1919.

PatentedSept. 13, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' Faber? FDarZy R. F. DARBY.

DRAFT MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 19, 1919.

' UNITED,..STA'[EWEA TENT orsicu.

.EtUJil'JRT F. DARBY, 0F YUN'KERS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR flit"! AMHRIGAN STlEiIlilh lltfll'hllll- BIBS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORIEORATIOIQI U11 NEW" DRAFT MECHANISM.

Application filed June 19,

State of New York, have invented certain new and uschil Improvements in Draft llllechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to draft mechanism for railway cars, and more particularly to such mechanism for freight cars.

The-present freight cars of the country 'havehcen built during the last twenty or twenty-five years. Each individual road has changed its d .sign from time to time as new lots of cars were built. The draft gear manufacturers have made the draft gears to suit tl eruselvcs or have modified the construc tions to suit the individual desire of each railroad. The result is a lack of interchangealf'ity of draft mechanism on cars hniltat dili'erent times by each and every railroad.

In the past railroads have decided on strengthening certain lots of old weak cars, the des'gn Was made, the material procured, the cars ordered home for this purpose. 'ar operating conditions changed this rocedure. No attempt was made to home route cars. rl. car unloaded on a foreign line was reloaded and shipped to any other foreign line. As a result thereof each railroad company had its freight cars scattered all over the country to a far greater extent than heretofore, with no authority to call its cars home.

This operating condition, together with the multiplicity of design, practically stopped the strengthening of the older cars. Weakness was repaired inkind or an adequate substitution made with as little Work as possible. The main object was to keep the car moving.

This situation became serious owin to the great amount of cars damaged and old for repairs. A large percentage of the damaged cars in question have their draft mech anism in bad condition;

Accordingly, one object of my invention is to facilitate the repair of the draft mech anism of freight cars of various conflicting designs.

Another object is to provide simple, duc'able and efficient draft mechanism adapt-- Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 18%, 1921.

1919. Serial No. 3%,225.

ed to meet successfully the emergency re quirements for repairing treigl'lt cars.

These and other objects accomplished by means of the mechanism shown on the accompanying sheets of drawings, in whiclr Figure l is plan View of my universal draft mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a plan View of my draft mechanism, showing a slightly diil'erent arrangement from that shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. t is a side elevation of the arranges ment shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an end view, parts being in section, oi. the arrangement shown ,in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is an end view, parts being in section, of the arrangement shown in Fig. 3;

Big. 7 is a sectional view taken in the plane of line 7-7 of Fig. 2,;

Fig. 8 is sectional View taken in the Fig. 9 is a sectional View taken in the plane of line 9-9 of Fig. 2; and

10 is a sectional View taken in the plane of line ,'l0--1 O of Fig. l.

The various novel ieaturesol the inven tion will be apparent from the following description and drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

It is realized that in making a universal repair of this character it may be necessary to respace the center sills to change the plane of line 8-8 of Fig. 4;

height of the truck holster center plate,

backward, remove the dead wood block, or

make other more or less structural changes which, however, it is believed will he a cheaper and quicker repair, looking at the matter only from the point of getting the cars repaired and. back into service as quickly as possible.

In the first place, 'Ihave arranged for a vertical adjustment of two inches for the draft gear and coupler within the draft arms 10. If it is necessary to make more of a vertical adjustment than two inches in the height of the coupler, it will he necessary to ohtain this additional adjustment by raising or lowering the truck lJOlSlZBI,TGS6lJ ting the arch bars, blocking up under the springs, or accomplishing this result in several well known ways. In other words, the

pocket in the draft arms 10 is made two inches deeper than ordinarily, so that the draft gear can be used in any horizontal position from the extreme top of the pocket to the extreme bottom of the pocket.

This draft gear pocket has been made 27 inches long, which will take about the longest draft gear in service. A. great many draft gears are shorter than-t1) is. The standard adopted by the U. S. R. R. A. is 24-5/8 inches long. In order to maintain U. S. safety appliance standard spacing between two cars, the front stop will remain the same distance from the front end. If the 27-inch pocket is too long for the old type of gear the back part of the pocket is to be filled with a block or blocks 11 riveted in place. which will shorten the effective length of the pocketany desired amount.

As many of the cars referred to are equipped with tandem springs which require a center stop, I have provided the draft arms 10 with center stop members 12. If some other gear is to be used which does not need the center stop, the center stop may be burned away by means of a gas or electric welding outfit, with which practically all shops are now equipped. It a very simple and cheap operation to burn away a portion of the casting such as this, by using what is termed a cutting flame or arc, instead of a welding flame or are. There may be another type of draft gear used which would require holes in the side of the draft gear pocket. and accordinglyl have provided the draft arms 10 with a reinforcing head 13 defining an area Within which holes 14 may be cut through the draft arms. 'Whcr this hole is necessary, the center stops 12 are not UQCLS- sary, and, on the other hand, where the center stops are necessary, the hole is not necessary. Therefore, all of the draft arms are provided with cast center stops 12 an with no holes, but the draft arms are provided with beads 13 for reinforcing purposes in the event that holes are cut through tic arms.

When it is desired to use a draft gear requiring the holes 14, the center stop 12 will be burned away andthe holes '14 will be burned through the main web of the draft arms at the proper height. By referring; to Figs. 7 and 8, it will be noted that the holes 14 are shown at two different heights.

The draft gear can be held at the proper height by any one of a number of differently shaped carry irons 14, these carry irons to have an upward set, a downward set, or be straight across, as is necessary to bring the draft gear to the proper vertical height. When a down set carry iron is used for the draft gear to occupy the lowest possible position, there will be too much play betw en the top side of the draft gear and the under side of the top part of the pocket under certain itions. order to hold the draft gear down and eliminate any undesired play, the draft arms are provided with openings 15 for the reception of a bar 16. When the draft gear is in its highest position, it will not be necessary to use the bar in. The carry iron having; an upward set may be used in accordance with requirements, as shown in Figs. 5 and 9.

My arrangement contemplates spacing the draft arms 10 so that the distance between the two formingthe draft gear pocke will be 10-7/8 inches wide, as shown in Fig. i). or 12-7/8 inches wide, as shown in Fig. ll The 10-7/8-inch width is an old standard used mostly for the tandem spring gear. The 12-7/S-inch width is the standard for the majority of friction gears. It may be necessary to pull down the center sills and rcspace andrenail them to get this spacing, or if the sills happen to be too far apart furring, blocks can be used on the inside of the sills.

In order to hold the draft yoke, which is usually 5 inches wide, from shifting on the back follower, the distance between the two back stops 1? on the draft arms is usually made so as to allow for approximately 1/2-inch play of the yoke. For instance, if the yoke is 5 inches wide, the distance be tween these two stops when both arms are in place is usually 54/2 incluxs. if the back stops .-.re made the proper depth to give the desired yoke clearance when the pockcts are 10-7/8 inches, there would bc loo much ,day

between these stops when the pochct is 12 7/8 inches wide. ilhereforc, l propose in make the stops 17 the right height or the right depth for the proper yoke clearance when there is a synrcing of 12-7/8 inches, these stops being burned off when the parts are brought closer together to provide a pocket 10-7/8 inches wide.

The same is true with respect to the front stops 18 formed at the front end of the draft arms, said stops determining the side motion of the coupler. If these stops are made the right dimension for a ill-'T/S-inch spacing, there will be too much side play to the coupl rs for draft arms spaccd from that dimension up to lQ-7/8 inches. .-\(C()]'(llll,*) 'l \i, I have provided front stops 19 to be of the proper dimensions when the draft arms are spaced the maxinnun distance apart, said stops to be burned off the desired amount when the spacing between the draft arms is made less.

In order to give the proper clearance over the top of the coupler at the deadwood. it is proposed to use spacing blocks 19 of the proper thickness when the front carry iron is to be used with the extreme upward set, as shown in Fig. 5.

The openinp :20 (see Figs. 2 and 4) in the draft arm for thebody bolsterismade 184/8 inches. This is somewhat wider than the average body bolster. ihis length of open that might be found from the face of the end sill to the center of the body bolster. In order to bring the body holster in the proper position with the draft arms, the thickness of the deadwood block aiso may be slightly varied. As it is impossible and is not the intention that the opening in the bottom of the draft arm over the top of the body bolster should help take the buff and sub-sill is to be cut to the pull, I propose to reinforce. the body bolster with deep sub-sills 21 located immediately under the main sills, cut to fit snugly the body bolster. Old car sills may be used for this purpose, as the average railroad shop is plentifully sup lied with such sills. I have provided just orward of the body bolster a wide, deep flange 22, against which the forward end of the short 'iece of sub-sill 21 is to bear. This sub-sill 1s to be bolted transversely to the draft arms and vertically through the main sill. The end of this short roper shape to conform with the front si e of the body bolster, so that there will be a deep bearing against same to prevent turning movement. Ordinarily, the sub-sills to the rear of the body bolster are only 4 inches deep. I propose to make same 8 inches deep, as this is the usualdepth of the old sill.

It will be noted that the carrier irons 14' i a for boththe-cou ler and draft gear are offfreight cars, the

set as shown an are reversible to vary th hei ht of the center line of draft.

means of the draft mechanism shown on t e drawings and hereinabove described, it is possibleto re air draft mechanism of esign of which varies greatly, said universal draft mechanism havmg parts which may be readily inserted and removed in accordance with require ments. I i

It is my intention to cover all modifica tions of the invention falling Within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

I' claim:

1. In draft mechanism for railway cars, draft arms having a center stop formed thereon to cooperate with tandem springs when such are used, said draft arms also having reinforcing beads defining spaces within which openings may be formed in strengthening beads defining areas withinv which openings may be formed in said draft arms for operatively receiving a different form of draft rigging, thecenter etc to be removed and the openings provide when one type of gear is to be used and the center stop to remain in place and no gear supporting openings formed in the draft arms when another type of draft gear is to be used, the beads being adapted to compensate for whatever material may be sacrificed in forming said" openings.

3. In draft mehanism for railway cars, draft arms having a center stop formed thereon to co'ciperate with parts of one type of draft rigging when such draft rigging is used, said arms also being provided with strengthening beads defining areas within which openings may be formed in said draft the inner surfaces thereof to coiiperate with.

tandem springs, when such are used, said draft arms also having reinforcing beads formed on the outer si'zrfaces thereof deiin ing spaces within which openings may be formed in said draft arms for operatively receiving a different form of draft rigging, the area defined by said beads being greater than the area of the openings which may be formed in the draft arms, for the purposes intended.

Signed at New York, New York, this 14th day of June, 1919.

- .nonnn'r r. DARBY. 

